NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 26: President of Bellator Scott Coker speaks onstage during the Bellator-DAZN announcement press conference on June 26, 2018 at Viacom in New York City. (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Bellator MMA)
In just a little under two weeks, Bellator will be back for the first time in 2022. It should be an exciting year for the promotion who has some big plans for this year. Obviously, one of the bigger items planned is the bantamweight grand prix.
In addition to that, Bellator will also conclude their light heavyweight grand prix when Corey Anderson and Vadim Nemkov square off. That fight is expected to take place in the first quarter of this year. Many exciting things are planned but there’s still a lot of speculation about the upcoming year.
Scott Coker has teased a couple of big fights that could be coming up. For example, Michael “Venom” Page might be getting his Bellator welterweight title shot in London. Fedor Emelianenko could be getting a heavyweight title fight for his retirement fight.
With so many things up in the air, let’s take a look at a few Bellator fights that need to be booked in 2022.
The first fight that Bellator has to make this year is the rematch between AJ McKee (18-0) and Patricio Pitbull (32-5). These two fought in the finals of the featherweight grand prix back in July and McKee stunned everyone when he stopped Pitbull in under two minutes.
Pitbull had done nothing but dominate the featherweight division for years. However, McKee made it look easy when he rocked Pitbull on the feet then choked him out in the first. Scott Coker has already said that the promotion will likely run things back and this is a must for Bellator fans.
This next matchup would pair two of the very best women in the world against each other. If I’m Bellator, a fight that I have to book this year is Cris Cyborg (25-2) against Kayla Harrison (12-0). Harrison is the hottest free agent on the market and she’s still unsigned.
The two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and PFL champion hit the open market after capturing her second PFL title in 2021. One of her first stops after she won her title was watching Cris Cyborg defend her Bellator featherweight title. This would be a massive fight for Bellator and one they should be going all out for.
The last fight that I really want to see Bellator book is the retirement fight of Fedor Emelianenko (40-6, 1 NC). However, it can’t just be any ordinary fight. This fight needs to be for the Bellator heavyweight championship and it needs to take place in Russia.
Fedor is coming off of two straight knockout wins that have put him right back in the title picture. In two weeks, Ryan Bader and Valestin Moldavsky will battle it out for the undisputed heavyweight title. Whoever wins that fight should fight Fedor in Russia in the Last Emporer’s final fight.
This post was published on 2022-01-17 10:00
